The warm weather is allowing for a rapid harvest, but yields are not as high as expected.

“It’s progressing quite rapidly and so I think the yields have been not as high as we’d anticipated, I think a month or so ago, with the pressures from diseases and certainly from the hot, drier conditions that we were experiencing in the latter part of July,” said Grant McLean, Saskatchewan Agriculture crop specialist.

“Initially we were looking quite optimistically, but I think we’ve got some quite good yields but not as high as we’d hoped and I think that’s province-wide because of various environmental effects.”

While the department doesn’t have the exact numbers yet for this week, McLean said in most cases, as of last week, harvest is between 60 and 70 per cent completed. The lentils peas and the majority of canola are harvested. McLean said the crops that haven’t been harvested yet are late-planted canola, durum wheat and flax.

“In most cases I think right around Moose Jaw we’ve been particularly blessed with good harvesting conditions,” said McLean. “Producers, in large cases, have got the lion’s share of the crop harvested.”